Hajime waited for the sisters to leave so that he could come out of the bedsheet. His eye, that changed its color before in the woods from crimson to saturated yellow, did not yet go back to its usual color; Hajime and the others did not notice it.
He sat down on the bed properly and looked at the daggers Reiko had left behind for him. He just stared at them for a few moments and did not lay even a finger on them. He stood from the bed and exited the room.
In the corridor, he saw a somewhat strange crystal which was growing different colors at the same time, but little did he know that the crystal placed in there was for security measurements and should activate when it detects suspicious activity in the house.
Since he didn't know that.
He moved closer to it. The moment he was within its range of severance, it cast off a bright light that would have blinded a humanoid or creature that attempted to come into contact with the crystal. Luckily for him, he tumbled and fell on the floor just in time before the light shone even brighter. He had been blinded only in one eye... Of course, it was his normal eye.
His heart started racing as if he were about to pass out. He slightly moved backwards while still on the floor, unable to stand up.
His yellow eye slowly flipped open, but it felt like both of his eyes had been completely sealed off by the light.
After a few seconds, his vision adjusted, and he started seeing something blurry in front of him at a short distance, which looked like a door because a little amount of light was slipping through it.
Without thinking, he approached it to maybe get out and go back to the room he was staying in, but once he reached it, he realized that the blur wasn't a door but a window leading outside.
Even so, he climbed it to get to the other side. The house had eight windows, and of the eight windows, two of them were in areas where a person, no matter the age or size, could reach from both sides.
"I need to get out of here."
He uttered, still climbing the window; he didn't know this window he was atop of now was one of the tallest windows in his house, and a second later, he stepped on a worn-out piece of wood. It snapped, sending him falling to the ground.
With a loud thud, he was now on the ground.
A man who was passing by heard the noise. He stopped, curious about what it could be. then turned, looking in the direction Hajime was. Without lingering for a second, he took a step forward.
He went to check what was going on, but the moment he got there, he found no one present.
"Hmm," He uttered with confusion.
He looked to his sides, checking if anyone needed assistance, but still, there was no person to be seen.
"How strange." Confused, the man hissed, still looking around.
The moment Hajime was falling, he peeped at the man, and by the time he reached the ground, he ran as fast as he could to prevent being asked a lot of questions by the man. He hid behind a tree behind the house, and he injured his whole arm due to the impact of falling.
His breathing was a little uneven.
His eyes were clouded with tears, and he clutched his injured arm with the one that remained unharmed. Despite the tears streaming down his face, one of his eyes was completely blind, while the other had regained just enough sight to allow him to move from where he stood to the front of the house.
There was no one present, only roses neatly arranged by the door as a welcoming charm for visitors, their delicate scent drifting softly through the air.
He pressed a hand against the door, trying to force it open, but it wouldn't budge. It was locked from the inside, and Reiko had taken her keys with her, and the spare set was still inside the house, resting beneath a painting of Yomeko on the wall.
He glanced at the doorknob closely, trying to figure out another way to unlock it. With no options left, he kicked the door, but it still wouldn't open for him.
'...What the hell...? It hurts so much.'
He glanced to either side, wondering if anyone had seen him. After a brief moment, he steadied himself and placed his hand against the door again, trying to force it open with the little strength he had left. Still, the door didn't budge.
He looked up at the clear sky, free of clouds, where birds were dancing and singing overhead. Suddenly, an idea crossed his mind.
'That's it... I'll have to use the window again... But with the current situation I'm in, will it even be possible for me to reach it?'
He pressed a hand against his shoulder and began dragging himself toward the nearest window of the house.
It didn't take him long to find one; the window was just around the corner, beside a smaller building that looked modest compared to Reiko's house.
After reaching the window, he studied it for a moment before realizing the problem. All the windows were far beyond his reach; with a broken shoulder, there was no way he could get back inside the house.
Still, it couldn't hurt to try climbing — or so he thought.
"I need to find something to climb with." He murmured nervously, looking around.
He swiveled his head to the left but saw nothing; his eye was still blind. He tried to turn his body instead, hoping to spot something useful, but just as he was about to move, a loud yell echoed through the air, arrogant and wild, as if the world itself belonged to them. The yell didn't come from anything human, nor something that sounded close to it.
Hajime froze, realizing the cry had come from Rica's pet. Moments later, a young girl with dragon horns, a tail, and scales lining her skin came dashing toward him, her voice squeaking the instant she noticed him.
Hajime flinched before turning and dashing the other way himself. The girl wasn't trying to hurt him; she only wanted to play.
He sprinted towards the village square, hoping to blend in with the crowd, unaware that the dragon girl had stopped chasing him some time ago.
***
"Fe… I thought I was going to die," he muttered, out of breath, as he came to a stop near a weapon shop. The shop's owner was outside, tossing out broken tools and expired potions.
"...Huh?"
Curious and confused, his lips slightly parted, he didn't say a word. Instead, he stepped closer to the store as the owner continued dumping broken tools and expired potions. Then his eye fell on a jagged dagger, which almost looked like a short sword, its surface cracked in several places.
"...Hey! Why are you throwing out that sword?" Hajime asked.
The man turned, wearing a bothered expression as he looked to see who was calling him. Then he realized it was only Nanako's son and composed himself before answering.
"It's no good, that's why," the man said, fixing Hajime with a calm smile.
"No good...?" Hajime echoed, confused.
In Hajime's eyes, the sword wasn't broken at all, but to the man, it was damaged beyond repair, and he wasn't a swordsmith.
The man looked Hajime over and realized the boy was injured and might need first aid.
"Hey, kid. You feeling okay?" he asked.
Hajime glanced behind him, checking for anyone else, but saw no one. Hesitantly, he replied, "I'm doing fine… But thanks for asking." He took a step back, putting some distance between himself and the man, then continued toward the square.
"Ah...?"
The man, puzzled, muttered to himself, "Are kids these days made differently?" He scratched the back of his head and added, "Then again, I shouldn't be surprised, he's Nanako's son, after all."
Hajime didn't feel the pain at all; the adrenaline from fleeing Rica's pet, the baby dragon, completely masked it.
Hajime continued to move forward. Since he was already in town and his house, where he lived with his mother, was nearby, he decided to head there.
He walked for a few minutes, managing as best he could, but as he neared the house, his arm flared with pain again. He clenched his shoulder and gritted his teeth, wincing with each step.
'Not again,' he glanced at his arm as he continued walking.
He forced himself to keep going, knowing his house was just ahead.
....
Later, after arriving home, he went straight to the bathroom to clean himself up, hoping it might ease the pain in his arm and possibly restore vision in his left eye. But the moment he stepped inside, his sight returned, and his arm was instantly healed, as if nothing had ever happened.
Dazed, Hajime stared at his arm, watching the scratches vanish completely.
"...Huh? I can see again, but how?"
A soft, colorful glow began to emanate from the bathwater, casting gentle hues across the bathroom. As the glow intensified, the water steamed violently, filling the room with a thick, swirling mist that shrouded everything in a warm haze.
"What just happened?" he asked himself, amused, as he stepped toward the glowing bathwater.
Amidst a step, his ears rang for a heartbeat before starting hear sounds from outside the building. Cries, shouts, and the crackle of chaos. The noises were accompanied by the acrid smell of something burning.
"Hm... What's going on out there?" He asked himself as he turned, looking at the exit and heading close to it. The moment he reached the main door of the building, opening it, he froze, seeing people being slaughtered like pigs, and almost every building was set ablaze.
"...Huh?" He murmured, his mismatched eyes wide with disbelief.